The 'most wanted' gangster Ghaffar Zikri and his abettor were killed in a targeted operation in Lyari early on Thursday. Zikri had used his 3-year-old son as a human shield to escape during the encounter with police and rangers. Unfortunately, the minor child too lost his life.
DIG Police (South) Javed Alam Odho told the media that the intelligence-based joint operation of police and rangers took place at around 5 am in Lyari's Ali Mohammad Mohallah situated within the limits of Baghdadi police.
"Police and Rangers cordoned-off the area and also managed to seize a large amount of weapons from the scene during the course of action," DIGP Odho said, adding that Zikri's accomplice gunned down alongside him was identified as Chhota Zahid aka Bijli who was also a hardened criminal. Two policemen and two residents (a man and a woman) were also injured. A sub-inspector, Muhammad Ali, was shot in the stomach and is said to be critical. The other police official was shot in his leg and is out of danger.
Odho said that having seen the law-enforcers, the gangsters opened fire using automatic weapons and also lobbed hand grenades at them. He said the ensuing exchange of gunfire continued for 90 minutes. The bodies were shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for postmortem examination.
DIG Odho said Zikri was wanted in more than 100 cases, including murder, attempted murder, terrorism and extortion and also remained involved in attacks on police and rangers in Lyari. Government had announced Rs 2.5 million reward money for Zikri's capture.
Karachi Police chief announced that the officers who conducted the encounter would be awarded Rs 0.5 million each. Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Syed Kalim Imam has announced a prize of Rs 500,000 for the team led by SSP-Malir that conduced cleanup operation in Lyari.
Appreciative of the professional competence of the police team during the encounter, Sindh police chief also directed the concerned authorities that injured cops be provided the best medical care. Zikri's name first came to surface linking him with Lyari gang war around 25 years ago. He was part of Uzair Baloch's gang prior to forming his own group with Arshad Pappu.
When Baloch was arrested in 2018, Zikri went underground; however, he came to Karachi 20 days ago. He was said to be the last formidable and notorious gangster in Lyari after Uzair, Pappu and Rehman Dacoit.